Category archives: amsterdam

Travis, Randall and I spent a the majority of one of our mornings in Amsterdam oohing and aahing over everything at Droog– it is one of those stores where I literally one of EVERYTHING. While we were there we were lucky enough to get a sneak peek at Hôtel Droogwhich will open its doors later this week. The term hotel is used a bit loosely, as this hotel has only one guest room, but there is a beauty salon, cafe, art gallery, and fashion boutique all housed overlooking the Fairy Tale Garden. The concept is best described by the co-founder and director, Renny Ramakers:

“The concept of a hotel has been reversed. Whereas a hotel is usually mostly about sleeping, here we have enlarged and emphasized all the aspects that many hotels also offer and made them central to the hotel experience— and it even has a room to sleep in.”

It was still a work in progress back in June when we were visiting, but I am headed back to Amsterdam next month and a stop to check out the finished hotel is definitely in order.

I put together a little video from our trip to Amsterdam back in June. I am having the best time playing around with video, and learning how to edit in Photoshop CS6. I just need to try and remember when I am out and about that my camera does more than just take pictures- I guess I sort of need to retrain myself to not just see the world as still images, but also as moving pictures. I also need to learn to hold the camera a bit more still while filming video ;)

We had such a wonderful trip to Amsterdam last month and one of my favorite memories was our high tea at Gartine. It was one of those meals where every bite somehow seems even better than the one before and dare I say, it was one of the most lovely lunches I have ever had. The cafe is tiny (in a charming way) and beautifully decorated- I was in love with the branches hung from the ceiling! It seems to be always busy (if you go, make reservations!!) and we loved watching the other diners leisurely enjoy their afternoon tea. It was a quiet little oasis tucked down a tiny little street in the middle of the bustling city. They serve Betjeman and Barton tea and I fell madly in love with the eden rose black tea– it is absolutely delicious. Thankfully my sweet friends Travis and Randall who high tea-ed with me bought me some eden rose tea as a gift so I don’t have to wait until I go back to Amsterdam to have it again. The owners were such lovely people and they told us how the restaurant came to be and about Gartine’s Amsterdam garden which supplies the cafe with fruits and vegetables, it is always such an inspiration to chat with people who work hard to make their dreams come true. If you are in Amsterdam, I cannot recommend this place enough- make sure to check it out!

I have stayed in many vacation rentals before, but dare I say this was the very best of them all? I always love the experience of staying in an apartment rather than a hotel when we travel to other cities because somehow I feel more like a local (and you all know how I cringe at feeling like a tourist!) This trip to Amsterdam was unlike other visits to the city I had taken in the past and I think a lot of that had to do with the fabulous apartment we stayed in. I partnered with House Trip for our getaway and when I saw the images of this apartment on their site I knew I had to stay there (and photograph it!). The apartment is located in the North-West area of the city- I loved staying a bit outside of the city center (but it is still only a 10 minute walk to the main train station) and getting a much better feel for the life of the locals. The street itself it a pier that juts out into the harbor and the view from every window in the building is spectacular. I could have sat for hours watching the boats pass by our window, one morning we awoke to an enormous cruise ship passing by- as I have never been on a cruise ship and or seen one up close before, it was quite the sight!

In addition to the amazing apartment, the owner was incredibly generous and welcoming. He shared some the names of his favorite restaurants around town, and even picked us up from the train station- on top of that, the beer waiting for us in the fridge was a definite bonus after a long train ride from Berlin :)

Nespresso might just be the key to my heart :)

just a cruise ship passing by our window

all the hallways in the building are painted a different color

we went shopping at Marqt one night and bought an array of cheeses, olives and bread back to the apartment and watched the clouds turn pink as the sun set from the picnic tables in front of the building- it was lovely.

I just returned from a few days in Amsterdam, where we met up with two of my friends Travis Jay and Randall who are making their way around Europe- and they arrived in Berlin this morning!!! Andreas had never visited Amsterdam, and even though I had been there a few times before, this trip was different. We stayed outside of the city center (in an AMAZING apartment- more pictures to come soon) and we spent most of our days just walking around exploring (and eating a LOT of delicious food) and I have to admit I fell pretty hard for this charming little city. I have not even had the chance to go through my pictures yet, but hopefully these instagram shots will fill the void until I can write a proper post. I hope you all had lovely weeks! Thanks for the sweet comments about my little video from the other day- I have absolutely no idea what I am doing, but making little videos has been great fun so far. Stay tuned for a little Amsterdam video next week :)

Chasing Heartbeats is the visual journal from photographer Ashley Ludaescher, a California girl living in Berlin, Germany. This blog features snippets from life in Berlin, travels around Europe, and Heartbeats- inspirations and somewhat magical moments in everyday life.